Modern life has become a constant stream of electronic devices demanding our attention. What are the consequences when we choose e-mail, Blackberries or Facebook over real person to person contact? Winifred Gallagher, our guest on this edition of Radio Curious suggests that we take charge of our own priorities, controlling electronic devices and not letting them control us. Winifred Gallagher is the author of “RAPT: Attention And The Focused Life,” a book which explores how we allow the limited and valuable resource that is our attention to be electronically squandered and thus not used to our needs or benefit.

I spoke with Winifred Gallagher by phone from her home in New York City on November 30th 2009 and began by asking her about how our focus shapes our lives.

The book Winifred Gallagher recommends is “Delete: The Virtue Of Forgetting In The Digital Age,” by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger.